Coverage: Live commentary of every England game online and BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, reports on England and Ireland matches on the BBC Sport website

Hosts England face India on Saturday as the Hockey Women's World Cup starts in London (14:00 BST).

Sixteen teams split into four groups will compete in a total of 36 matches over two weeks at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in the Olympic Park.

More than 100,000 tickets have been sold for the event.

England, with a squad featuring eight Rio Olympic gold medallists, also face Ireland and USA - who meet at 18:00 BST - in the group stages.

New Zealand, Argentina and the Netherlands, who are reigning champions, are among the favourites.

England captain Alex Danson said her side are relishing playing on home turf.

"There is no place like home," said the 33-year-old. "I can't begin to imagine what it will feel like when we walk out in front of the full stadium with so many people willing us on and we want to do well for them, it's a fantastic opportunity."

Hollie Pearne-Webb scored the winning penalty as Great Britain won their first Olympic gold in 2016

Best of the rest

The Netherlands will be seeking revenge following their shock loss to Great Britain in Rio and as the current world number one side, they will be hard to beat.

They enter the competition on a the back of a dominant showing in the 2017 European Championships, where they beat Belgium 3-0 in the final.

The Netherlands begin the defence of their title against South Korea in Pool A at 17:00 on Sunday.

However, Argentina - ranked third in the world - are well fancied, with a squad full of youth and experience, including world young player of the year Maria Granatto.

They are dangerous in attack and organised in defence. Australia and New Zealand make up the world's top five and are certainly ones to watch.

Elsewhere, Italy will be playing in their first World Cup in 42 years, after not qualifying since 1976. They play their opening game against China on Sunday.

Can Ireland pull off a shock?

Ireland are ranked 15 of the 16 teams but manager Arlene Boyles believes they can upset the odds.

"Could we surprise someone? Yeah, I definitely think we could, and we're looking forward to it. We are not there to make up the numbers," she said.

"They've put in an incredible amount of effort over months and years to get to this spot."

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Ireland women happy to be World Cup underdogs

Key match-ups

The group stage throws up a number of juicy fixtures, including Germany v Argentina in Pool C (Wed, 25 July 18:00) and the Pool D trans-Tasman clash between New Zealand and Australia (Saturday, 28 July, 20:00).